BODY WEIGHT IN YOUNG MEN LINKED TO OSTEOARTHRITIS

Men carrying a few extra pounds in early adulthood nearly double their
chance of developing painful knee and hip osteoarthritis later in life, say
Johns Hopkins researchers. A new study reports that even small bulges can cause
big problems.

"All it takes is an extra 20 pounds," says Allan C. Gelber, M.D., M.P.H., who
is scheduled to present the new findings October 25 at The American College of
Rheumatology's 58th Annual Scientific Meeting in Minneapolis.

The bad news: a recent national study reports that one-third of U.S. adults
aged 20 or older, regardless of race or gender, are overweight.

The findings emerge from a long-term study in which researchers followed 1,178
men through 1994 who entered The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine from 1948
through 1964. Their average age was 22 years when they entered medical
school--a significant fact, says Gelber, since no other study has evaluated men
from such an early age, throughout their adulthood. In addition, people are
most susceptible to major weight gain from ages 25 to 35.

Over the years, investigators recorded participants' height, weight and age,
in addition to hip and knee osteoarthritis. Overall, the average height of
study participants was 5' ll" and average weight, 168 pounds.

The heaviest students averaged 190 pounds and were three and a half times more
likely to develop osteoarthritis in their weight-bearing joints than the
lightest students (average weight, 146 pounds.) "Researchers have been faced
with the chicken and egg dilemma," explains
Gelber. "It was unclear from previous studies if being overweight led to
osteoarthritis because the joint had to work harder, or if osteoarthritis led
to a sedentary lifestyle and subsequent weight gain. These results shed new
light on that question."

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and a major cause of
disability and missed workdays. More than 40 million Americans have been
diagnosed with osteoarthritis. Some use medications or have joint replacements
to temper their pain.

According to Gelber, osteoarthritis is a mechanical problem. Aging and use
together with genetic and biologic factors wear the cartilage thin, or destroy
it altogether. Without an adequate thick shock absorber, bone meets bone,
causing friction and pain. (Other kinds of arthritis, such as rheumatoid
arthritis, are caused by inflammation and affect more than one percent of
adults in the United States.)

The Johns Hopkins study is funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Designed by Caroline Bedell Thomas, M.D., it is one of the nation's
longest-running studies and is aimed at finding early predictors of disease and
mortality. Begun in 1947, it continues to follow more than 1,000 men and women
who have enrolled in The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and has
yielded more than 130 research papers.

Dr. Gelber received a post-doctoral fellowship award from the National
Arthritis Foundation to perform this study.

Source: Robert J. Kuczmarski, Dr.Ph., Rd et al, Increasing Prevalence of
Overweight Among US Adults: The National Health and Nutrition Examination
Surveys, 1960-1991, Journal of the American Medical Association,
1994,272:205-211.